A hierarchical process execution support for grid computing

Grid is an emerging infrastructure used to share resources among virtual organizations in a seamless manner and to provide breakthrough computing power at low cost. Nowadays there are dozens of academic and commercial products that allow execution of isolated tasks on grids, but few products support the enactment of long-running processes in a distributed fashion. In order to address such subject, this paper presents a programming model and an infrastructure that hierarchically schedules process activities using available nodes in a wide grid environment. Their advantages are automatic and structured distribution of activities and easy process monitoring and steering.